Indicators measuring the overall regulatory environment show that Greece and Portugal are among the largest reformers: between 2008 and 2013, the two countries led the reform effort according to the OECD Product Market Regulation indicator.
The introduction of an electronic registry to simplify the creation of new businesses and the introduction of a new form of limited liability corporation that has no capital requirement may have helped Greece rise 110 places to 36th out of 189 in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report, the biggest improvement of any country between July 2012 and June 2013. There is also evidence to suggest that Greece’s efforts to liberalise its heavily protected professions have made some headway.
Data from the four countries confirms the large benefits of the EU’s Services Directive and the power of business environment reforms. Reforms implemented by mid-2013 are estimated to boost labour productivity in the sectors affected by the Directive by around 4.3 % in Portugal, 5.7 % in Spain, 7 % in Italy and almost 9 % in Greece. Given that the directive covers an average of 40 % of GDP in the four countries, the full economy-wide effects should be considerable.
An assessment of the liberalisation of 20 professions through the 2011 law by the Centre of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE, 2013) shows that the reforms liberalised professions substantially. The regulation index, which ranges from zero (no restriction) to 12 (maximum restrictions) declined on average from 5.8 before the reform to 2.3 after the reforms. As a result, 74 percent of the restrictions of the 20 professions were abolished. For non-scientific professions, the share went up to 83 percent. While regulations remained high for some professions, especially legal professions, the report argues that the remaining restrictions were broadly justified in view of the special nature of the services offered.